I often come across new books and authors that are outside what I usually read by looking at what other people are reading. Noirtrash having introduced me to 1920's and 1930's Noir style books, I thought it'd be interesting to see what everyone else is reading from week to week. A bit of cross-pollination of ideas, so to speak. Maybe one book at a time....
So, to start the ball rolling and in the hope that anyone else might be interested ...
"I'm currently reading "Cannon" an adult comic book written and illustrated by the fantastic Wallace "Wally" Wood. He worked for "Mad" magazine in its early days and also created the superheroine "Powergirl." As an experiment, to see if the editors and readers were paying attention, he gradually increased the character's bustline until it was quite prodigious. Powergirl has changed a lot since those early days but she remains the most well-endowed heroine out there.
"Cannon" was published in Europe for American soldiers during the height of the Cold War. Joe Cannon is a cross between John Wayne, James Bond, Matt Helm, and Clint Eastwood. The comic features fistfights, naked girls, explosions, spying, naked girls, Hitler, naked girls, and lots and lots of action. Wood was a magnificent artist and his women are divine. The book is also informative as to what society and men were like back in the late sixties early seventies. It reads very much like a Hugh Hefner wet dream about what it would be like to be a spy. One of the main villains is Madame Toy a beautiful (of course) Chinese communist torturer who falls for Cannon, natch. Stereotypes abound. There is a Russian babe named Sue Smith whose entire reason for being is to assassinate Cannon, after luring him in with her alluring body. naturally. She too falls for Cannon. leading to a naked catfight between herself and Madame Toy. Enlightened literature it most assuredly is not. It does, however, give one the sense of how far we have come, politically, socially, economically, and culturally. I am enjoying it thoroughly.
